Slept like crap last night. Don’t know what it was, but I couldn’t sink into a deep sleep state. First I was too hot (kicked the comforter off), then too cold (frantic groping for comforter on the floor), then my neck couldn’t get comfy no matter how I punched up my pillow, and then despite all the white noise going on in my head, every time I shut my eyes, they popped back open again. Dammit.
Hobkin ran off early to sleep under his hutch, in some disgust with all my tossing and turning.
Managed to get a bit of light napping in, but eventually got up an hour before my alarm from a fitful sleep. Sleep is stupid. *grumble*
I spent the day cranky and red-eyed. Fortunately I don’t have to deal with people very much in my day-to-day work environment. I suspect I would have been quite snappish to anyone who came close enough for me to take a bite out of.
Writing Stuff:
Heard from the editor of The Third Alternative that “Running on Two Legs” will likely be in issue #40, which I believe will be their Winter 2004 issue. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a PayPal account, so he’s going to pay me via check in pounds. I wonder how large a lump of flesh my bank will excise from me to convert it to dollars.
Still haven’t received a BFoD from Carina of Realms of Fantasy from this batch of slush. Could that mean my story is being sent on to Shawna? According to the website, it was read on the 7th and it’s almost two weeks later. Usually Carina sends out rejections the same day she reads a manuscript. Oh, I can’t stand it! I’m going to query her. I’m very glad Carina is so cool about queries. She’s the best first reader RoF has ever had, IMO.
Still waiting to hear from Shawna on my previous story sent on to her from the last batch too. *twitch*
Matthew finally first-readered “Blind Love.” Ugh. Okay, I knew this probably wasn’t his sort of story, but I didn’t take into account that he’d have nearly zero frame of reference for it. It’s a modern day Greek myth retelling. (Which myth I’ll not say as there are several Critters on my LJ Friends List who might read it when it bubbles up the queue.) Now my hubby is well read and quite literate, more literate than I would normally expect the average reader to be. Furthermore, our brains are typically in amazingly close sync.
And this story totally didn’t work for him. He didn’t have enough familiarity with the original myth to have any resonance with it, and so it was nearly meaningless on that front. And without the myth subtext, it’s rather deflated.
Now I don’t know what to do. I’m going to take some of his suggestions and do a rewrite, but now I’m wracked with doubt and wondering if the thing is salvageable. Guess I’ll wait to see what the folks at Critters think of it.
mythic subtext
without knowing the myth involved, i have seen a few tricks for conveying a mythic subtext, especially useful for when the original myth never existed. i have an image of the title followed by a stanza of greek myth, in greek with translation following. each chapter heading (if this is long enough for chapters) could either have a brief snippet following or you could use lines of poetry for chapter headings. if you need to provide more background you could alternate chunks of myth in italics like two stories told in parallel. it would make it a lot longer, but i think you were saying this was at an awkward length to start with. in any case, i hope this helps and congrats on the progress with your submissions.
Re: mythic subtext
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve always been leery of using quotes from other sources in my fiction, even fully-credited public domain sources, because of the huge tangle of copyright and permission. I’d hate to submit something to a market with quotes that I thought were public domain, only to loose a sale upon discovering that it wasn’t and to get permission would require a phalanx of lawyers and my ovaries . . .
Hi, Eugie. Don’t know if you remember me; I’ve Crittered a couple of your stories before and happened across your blog through friends of friends of friends. Congrats on the TTA sale! And you’re making me feel better about Realms; I’ve got a story in this batch too. It’s been only one week in my case and I haven’t heard, so I’m cautiously beginning to hope I might receive a YFoP or… ::holds breath:: consideration. Unfortunately in a chat on the Speculations Rumor Mill Carina pretty much says that unless you’ve gotten a BFoD it might be months or as much as a year before you hear back. -_-
Hi, and thanks for the congrats!
Yeah, it seems like Shawna’s sitting on the slush right now. Trying not to think too hard about it, but it’s like being on a diet and not thinking about food. Suddenly everything reminds me of food, or RoF, as the case may be. Sigh. I suck at waiting.
No sleep and other stuffies
Know totally what you mean about your lack of sleep. Sounds like the weather really hit you hard. I don’t know about you, but a solid chunk of protein (e.g., peanut butter, warm glass of soy milk, etc.) tends to knock me out. Benadryl(tm) not only clears my sinuses at night but is the main ingredient for sleep aids like somanex(tm). Or reading a REALLY dull book in dim lighting….
Re: “Blind Love”. That’s a tough call. Let us know what happens.
Joel
waywriter.blogspot.com
Re: No sleep and other stuffies
Benadryl knocks me out like a brick to the head. Unfortunately, I never wake up rested from it. When the morning comes, I’m all sluggish and groggy, which wouldn’t be much of an improvement. What I need is an uninterrupted night’s sleep!
Or, maybe more coffee . . . No, no. Down that way lies madness! Maaadness!
Err, I definitely need some sleep.
unrelated to your post, but … this one’s for you:
http://www.nbc5.com/irresistible/3546807/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=1260382&dppid=65193
be sure to click the images.
😉